Results of the writing Competitions

Children’s Competition.

COLLECTIONS OF BOOKS ARE VERY GENEROUSLY BEING DONATED AS PRIZES BY FIREFLY PRESS.

First category

1st Prize: Leo Robertson

2nd Prize: Olivia Robertson

3rd Prize: Libby James

Second category

1st Prize William Russell

2nd Prize Darcy Conbeer

3rd prize Zihan Lin

Congratulations to all the winners. And thank you to everyone who entered the competition. There were a many entries and the standard was excellent. The judges had great difficulty coming to their decisions.

As usual our Book Fair is part of the Tenby Arts Festival . We’re at Church House on the first day, Saturday 24th September, between 11am – 3pm and it’s free to come in and chat with all the authors and publishers.

And here are the events of:

Saturday 1st October

Gregynog 2016 Winners

Gregynog Young Musician of the Year 2016Prize Winners’ Concert

The festival has established a special relationship with the prestigious Gregynog young musician competition. Each year the overall winner of this competition together with one or more of the five instrumental section winners perform at Tenby. Standards are astonishingly high and the concert is always a highlight. This year’s Gregynog Young Musician 2016 is the pianist Kirsty Chaplin. Kirsty is 17 and has won a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music. This summer she is the only British competitor to be selected for the prestigious Cooper International Piano Competition in Cleveland, USA. She will play a concerto with the world renowned Cleveland Orchestra. Kirsty is joined by brilliant young percussionist Heledd Gwynant, also 17. Heledd is a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and was previously member of Wales’ National Youth Brass Band and National Youth Wind Orchestra. The two young artists will perform music by composers including Liszt, Haydn, Schumann, Rosauro, Mayuzumi, Debussy, and Chopin.

St. Mary’s Church
2.30pm

£5

Children’s Art Workshop

Led by renowned children’s book illustrator Fran Evans this is an opportunity for children to learn and enjoy some real hands-on experience of painting.

After an introduction to her illustration work, Fran will be taking workshop participants through the process of developing a character/characters for a story. From huge humpback whales to tiny microscopic pond-life, she has developed characters for picture, poetry books, posters, greetings cards and novels.Starting from basic research techniques, participants will then design a book cover based on their character. Paints may be used so please wear old clothes!

Free

Tenby Library

2 – 3.30pm

The Last Bastard

AUGUSTUS JOHN – A personal reminiscence byTristan de Vere Cole

Tristan, born in 1935, is acknowledged to be the last illegitimate son of the great artist Augustus John. He was brought up largely in the eccentric Bohemian lifestyle of the John household before going on to careers in the Navy, show business and writing. He will recount his fascinating and often hilarious experiences with illustrations of Augustus John’s works and photos of his life, family and career. Tristan was an English television director for many years. He is best known for Orion’s Belt, the TV series Z-Cars, and Bergerac. The picture shows Tristan with his father Augustus John in 1937.

After the talk he will sign copies of his intriguing book, ‘The Last Bastard?, on sale at £20.

Church House

4.30pm

£5

Festival Grand Finale

A Night of Romantic Opera

The acclaimed company Swansea City Opera (formerly Opera Box) are returning with a captivating show transporting audiences into the world of Romantic Opera. An enchanting evening of arias and ensembles accompanied by piano and performed by a carefully selected cast of singers from the major national and international opera houses singing music from some of the most loved composers including Puccini, Verdi, Bizet, Mozart and many more.

Known for his colourful life in opera as Artistic Director of SCO, the evening will be hosted by the charismatic Brendan Wheatley introducing the ravishing music of the great romantic composers in his own inimitable style.With all the clapping your ‘tiny hands will not be frozen’!

De Valence

7.30pm

£15

Why not complete the evening by having a delicious supper either before or after the concert, or simply enjoy a glass of Prosecco and nibbles before the performance at the Caffi Pura adjacent to the De Valence Paviliion. Booking is essential for Caffi Pura. Please phone Fern on 07715 232219

Tenby Arts Festival 2016: Day Four Tuesday 27th September.

As usual our Book Fair is part of the Tenby Arts Festival . We’re at Church House on the first day, Saturday 24th September, between 11am – 3pm and it’s free to come in and chat with all the authors and publishers.

And here are the events of the Day:

The Banana Lady – Joséphine Baker

Josephine Hammond

A talk about the famous American-Parisian jazz singer of the twenties and thirties who was notorious for having danced in a skirt made of bananas.

Sounds great fun but she had a serious side too. Find out about her courage working for the Resistance during World War II and her fight against racism.

Fourcroft Hotel

3pm (followed by tea)

£5

The Shakespeare Ladies Club

written and performed by Alison Neildirected by David CollisonAlison Neil returns with another of her brilliant one-woman plays.

Coffee shops and tooth worm, smuggling and mouseskin eyebrows…amid the fascinating trivia of mid-eighteenth century life, Mary Cowper De Grey recounts the true story of a group of Ladies of Quality, who determined to make Shakespeare fashionable. The success of the Shakespeare Ladies Club echoes down the centuries. Mary also has a very personal tale to recount – her involvement with a young and ambitious would-be actor named… David Garrick.

Mrs Cowper De Grey then introduces her surprise guest – and the Lords, Gentlemen and Ladies of the Audience are told a very different tale – of a London unseen by People of Quality.

London in the mid-1700’s : vivacity and prosperity, marvels and great achievements in art and science. When the first steps were taken to quell the squalor and brutality of life for the poor. And women were not staying at home, or keeping quiet…

“Eighteenth century London comes alive in the skilled hands of Alison Neil…unmissable entertainment” DORSET ECHO

“… jammed full of historical fact…told with humour, sympathy and attention to detail… both informative and entertaining, performed with energy and conviction.” BORDON POST

“…Alison commanded great stage presence…she revealed what life was like at that time…an eye-opening look at Georgian London from both sides of society.” NEWARK ADVERTISER

ALISON NEIL’s other plays, “BELLA – THE STORY OF MRS BEETON”, “THE SIXTH WIFE” (about Katherine Parr), “TRULY YOURS, C.B.” (about Charlotte Brontë), “LIVING IN THE LIGHT” (about Hildegard of Bingen) “THE JUST-WILLIAM LADY” (about Richmal Crompton) and “THE FOSSIL LADY OF LYME” (about Mary Anning) and “MRS BEETON, MY SISTER” have been performed up and down the country in hundreds of venues since 1989. As well as theatres, arts centres, village halls, colleges and festivals, the plays have been performed in hotels, art galleries, museums, castles, stately homes – and even a race course!

“BELLA – THE STORY OF MRS BEETON” and “THE JUST-WILLIAM LADY” have been adapted as BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Plays.

ALISON NEIL has been a professional actress for 30 years. She has appeared in the West End in “LITTLE LIES” (starring Sir John Mills) and “ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD”, together with numerous appearances in theatres up and down the country and abroad, and on TV and radio. Following the success of “BELLA – THE STORY OF MRS BEETON”, her second career as a writer/researcher began – for events such as VE Day in Hyde Park, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in London, many Royal Tournaments, and permanent exhibitions such as The Smugglers Adventure (Hastings), Newhaven Fort, Shrewsbury Abbey, Tonbridge Castle and countless others. She has also been a member of Past Pleasures, interpreting history for special events and at the Tower of London.

Her one-act play “WHERE THERE’S A WILL” won the Drama Association of Wales BEST PLAY BY A WELSH-BASED WRITER 2008.

Church House

7pm

£10

PINT-SIZED PLAYS ARE BACK AGAIN FOR ANOTHER ROUND!

Short (5-10 minutes) snappy plays that are performed free of charge in pubs around Tenby. They are winners of an international playwriting competition that attracts hundreds of entries every year. Some will make you think, some will make you chuckle, many are just downright hilarious. This extremely popular entertainment is now a regular part of the Festival and always surprises the audiences who appreciate the quirky subjects and amusing performances whilst having a convivial drink. Come early, get them in, sit back and enjoy!

Tenby Arts Festival 2016: Day Three: Monday 26th September.

As usual our Book Fair is part of the Tenby Arts Festival . We’re at Church House on the first day, Saturday 24th September, between 11am – 3pm and it’s free to come in and chat with all the authors and publishers.

And here are the events of the Third Day,

Monday 26th

Sunderland Flying Boats

John Evans

A talk about the history of flying boats in Pembroke Dock.

The Project Manager of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust, John Evans, was awarded the British Empire Medal (B.E.M.) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for ‘The Preservation of Pembroke Dock and its Military Past’.Pembroke Dock’s remarkable naval, military and aviation history has always fascinated him and he began detailed research into RAF Pembroke Dock and its flying boats, making contacts worldwide with so many individuals who had served at ‘PD’, in peacetime and in war.Reunions and theme weeks led directly to the setting up of the town’s Museum Trust which, in 2001, took over the running of the Gun Tower Museum in one of the two forts built to defend the Royal Dockyard. John became the Museum Trust’s first chairman.Following the rediscovery of the remains of a Sunderland flying boat, which sank off Pembroke Dock in 1940, and the lifting of one of its Pegasus engines, the Sunderland Trust was formed by John and three Trustees in 2006. With the support in particular of Texaco and the Milford Haven Port Authority the Sunderland Trust successfully bid for funding, and set up the Flying Boat Centre. This opened in the former dockyard in June 2009 and has had over 30,000 visitors.Later it transferred to the Royal Dockyard Chapel which has been beautifully restored by Pembrokeshire County Council. The very new ‘Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre’ welcomed its first visitors on April 11th, and on April 29th 2015 Her Majesty The Queen – accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh – officially opened the centre in the town’s Bicentennial Year.John’s specialist areas of research are flying boats and Welsh aviation history and he is often in demand for historical information on aviation subjects.

Church House

2pm

£5

HUMAN EVOLUTION

Our Place in Natural History

George Hancock

Were we created in our present form by intelligent design, or did we evolve from earlier species? If we evolved, then how and when? Are we still evolving, and if so how will we end up? Are there other creatures with high intelligence outside our planet, or are we unique in that respect? George will examine the theories, explain the arguments and help you reach your own conclusions. You may find food for thought and even surprises.

Church House

4pm

£5

The Hands of Genius

Graham Short

The most amazing and unusual presentation you are likely to see– thought-provoking, awe-inspiring and entertaining!

He knew the day he left school at the age of 15 without any qualifications, that he had already failed on an epic scale. He took the advice of an inspirational teacher, whose parting words, to him as he left school for the last time, were, “For the rest of your life, remember, if you want to achieve, you must think differently.”

This advice led him to secure the most enviable and prestigious client list imaginable, which included the Royal Family, The National Gallery, Rolls Royce, Chanel, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, Richard Branson, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Kim Kardashian, Elton John, Uri Geller and many, many other celebrities.

After carving The Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin, and engraving the words, ‘Nothing is Impossible’ along the sharp edge of a Wilkinson Sword razor blade, he has appeared in many news, radio and television features internationally, and been the subject of a Discovery Channel documentary. HIs last exhibition in Kelso, Scotland sold out in just two minutes, with sales of over £400,000 for art that was smaller than a red human blood cell and totally invisible to the naked eye!

He goes to greater lengths than anyone else in the world in an effort to produce art on such a minute scale. Working from midnight to 5.00 am, to avoid vibration from passing traffic, he lowers his pulse to 20 beats a minute, and while wearing a stethoscope – and with the aid of potassium, magnesium and beta-blockers – he engraves between heartbeats when he is perfectly still. Regular injections of Botox in his eyelids ensure there is no distraction from eye-muscles and nerves.

Church House

7.30pm

£12 (to include a light supper)

PINT-SIZED PLAYS ARE BACK AGAIN FOR ANOTHER ROUND!

Short (5-10 minutes) snappy plays that are performed free of charge in pubs around Tenby. They are winners of an international playwriting competition that attracts hundreds of entries every year. Some will make you think, some will make you chuckle, many are just downright hilarious. This extremely popular entertainment is now a regular part of the Festival and always surprises the audiences who appreciate the quirky subjects and amusing performances whilst having a convivial drink. Come early, get them in, sit back and enjoy!

Tenby Arts Festival 2016: Day Two: Sunday 25th September.

As usual our Book Fair is part of the Tenby Arts Festival . We’re at Church House on the first day, Saturday 24th September, between 11am – 3pm and it’s free to come in and chat with all the authors and publishers.

And here are the events of the second day: Sunday 25th

Tenby at Dawn

A guided tour of how to take better pictures in Tenby harbour.This free photography workshop is aimed at beginner level, although everyone is welcome.Early start to catch the dawn light 06:30am – 08:30amMeeting point: The Croft, opposite the Cliffe-Norton hotelFinish point: Castle Hill.

Advice and tuition from a professional photographer on How To Take Better Pictures.

Free ( Voluntary Donations to the RNLI)

Festival Church Service

A Special Service of Sung Eucharist to launch the Festival

All are welcome.

St Mary’s Church

10am

Sandcastle Competition

A perennial favourite of the festival and a great way for parents and children to take part together. Your entry does not even have to be a castle. So get your creative juices working and come and have fun with bucket and spade. Who knows, you might even win a cash prize.

Judges will be the Mayor of Tenby and Mr Henry Gardiner.

Castle Beach 11am – 2pm

Free

It’s Where We Go

is a site-specific performance which explores the British seaside and the phenomenon of nostalgia, through live performance and audio. The audience are invited into a collective and personal journey, as they are given a pair of headphones and an audio device, which invites them into a curated collection of memories gathered from across the country, related to the seaside.
Incorporating both local themes and universal, the performance questions the notion of ‘The British Seaside’ as a recognisable neutral space as well as including specific stories from beaches all over the UK.
It’s Where We Go, celebrates personal, local and national identity and community, and the audience are invited to share their own memories on a postcard at the end of the performance, which leaves traces of their identity upon the place and within the collected archive of the performance.
The legacy that this creates will be available as an online public platform for further contribution, discovery and exploration.

Castle Beach

11am – 2pm

Free

Jazz Brunch

Madi Stimpson Trio
Madi and his trio take you on a wide-genre-engaging journey via Django Reinhardt, Chet Atkins and Les Paul to some of Madi’s contemporaries, including Van Morrison, Moving Hearts and even a bit of Frank Zappa. Jazz, Roots & Boots, perhaps, but always engaging with awe inspiring musicianship.

All this and a delicious meal with views across the picturesque Tenby Harbour.

And here are the events of the day: Saturday 24th

Brass Ensemble

To announce the opening of the festival with a swing, a brass ensemble will perform a medley of popular musical numbers.

Outside St Mary’s Church

High Street

11am

Free

Book Fair

For the fifth year running the Book Fair is the popular opening event in Church House for the Tenby Arts Festival. We will have twenty-eight authors and two publishers for all to chat with, who are either Welsh based or have set their books in Wales. There will be three competitions this time: an adults short story competition, one for teenagers and one for children. Details to be announced separately in May through the media.
Talks, books, relaxing music, refreshments; a morning of friendly chatter and discussion – a great morning for all.

Here is what a visitor said of last year’s fair (see picture):

“This weekend I’ve attended the Book Fair at the Tenby Arts Festival. Having seen the busy London Book Fair last year and on the other end of the spectrum some deserted halls with only two tables and four attendees elsewhere, I was pleasantly surprised to find a good vibe and a great buzz in a busy hall with lots of mingling and literary delights.”

Church House
11am – 3pm

Free

Sand Circles

Marc Treanor

The essence of all you see, only exists because of a very profound order of certain repeating mathematical formulas that create the foundation of all matter, from atoms to galaxies. Sacred Geometry is the ancient science that explores and explains the energy patterns that create and unify all things, and reveals the precise way that the energy of Creation organises itself. On every scale, every natural pattern of growth or movement conforms inevitably to one or more of these geometric shapes. The strands of our DNA, the cornea of our eye, snow flakes, pine cones, flower petals, diamond crystals, the branching of trees, the path of lightning, a nautilus shell, the star we spin around, the galaxy we spiral within, and all life forms as we know them emerge out of timeless geometric codes. Sacred Geometry may very well provide the answers that you have been looking for. (http://www.maya48.com/)

The patterns Marc creates on the beaches are all inspired by sacred geometry. The idea of ‘sacredness’ transpires from the realisation that these patterns appear everywhere from the very small, the quantum field or the microcosm, to the very large, the cosmic realms or the macrocosm.

North Beach

Free

Jack Harris

Jack Harris writes and performs literate, compassionate songs, about subjects as disparate as Caribbean drinking festivals, the colour of a potato flower and the lives of great poets like Sylvia Plath and Elizabeth Bishop.
These have won him considerable acclaim. The Telegraph voted his album ‘The Flame and the Pelican’ #5 in their top 10 Roots/Folk albums of 2012. Q magazine praised his ‘unique lyrical mind’, and Maverick UK awarded the record its full 10/10 rating.
Jack is happiest when playing live. He has brought his music to a loyal, ever-growing audience, at festivals, venues and skating rinks across the world. On occasion he has opened for some of Folk’s biggest names, including Anais Mitchell, Cara Dillon and Dick Gaughan. His live show is a riveting mix of song craft and theatrical story-telling, delivered with warm voice, dry humour and nimble, string-picking fingers. Come on out and see.

Church House

8.00pm

£10

Cantemus

The Messiah

Under the baton of Welsh National Opera chorus master, Alexander Martin, singers from all over Pembrokeshire and beyond, choir members or not will rehearse and perform Handel’s Messiah in the beautiful surroundings of St Mary’s Church.

Born in London, Alexander Martin studied Music at St John’s College, Cambridge, and the piano at the Royal College of Music in London. In 1992 he was appointed répétiteur at the Opéra National de Lyon in France under Kent Nagano. From 1995 to 1998 Alexander spent four seasons in Germany as répétiteur at the Opera, and répétiteur and conductor at the Hesse State Opera in Wiesbaden, before returning to live in France to pursue a freelance career. He has worked as guest conductor, assistant and coach for Lyon, Marseille, Avignon, le Capitole Toulouse, l’Opéra National du Rhin (Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia), La Monnaie, le Grand Théâtre Geneva, as well as for Aix-en-Provence, Glyndebourne, and Montepulciano Festivals. Alexander also worked closely with Philippe Jordan Britten’s Peter Grimes and The Turn of the Screw (Graz), and collaborated with René Jacobs in Rome for Tancredi. Following three seasons as Chorus Master in Bern (where he also conducted Cendrillon and Dave Maric’s Ghosts), Alexander worked as Chorus Master at the Opéra National de Bordeaux from 2010-2014. During this time he also worked in Bayreuth with Philippe Jordan on Parsifal (2012). He became Chorus Master at WNO at the start of this season.

The choir will be accompanied by Jeff Howard, organist.

Jeffrey Howard was born in Cardiff and studied at the University of Wales College, Cardiff, and the Royal Academy of Music, specializing in organ performance and church music. Since graduating, he has pursued a freelance career as organist, pianist, singer, coach and conductor. He has accompanied leading international singers including Bryn Terfel, Sir Willard White, and, Rebecca Evans.

Jeff has performed throughout the United Kingdom and Europe including the Wigmore Hall, The Goethe Institute, Brussels, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, and has worked with orchestras such as The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Royal Philharmonic. He made his Royal Albert Hall debut in 2002 as soloist in Shostakovitch’s second piano concerto. Recent performance include performed Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto and Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto at St. David’s Hall, Cardiff with the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra and a recital with Bryn Terfel at Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Jeff frequently provides arrangements for the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, S4C and various solo artists. He is accompanist, singer and arranger for Only Men Aloud!, winners of the BBC competition ‘Last Choir Standing’ who recently won a Classical Brit Award for their second album on the Universal label. Jeff is also involved in cabaret and music theatre having worked with names such as Michael Ball, David Owen Jones, Peter Karrie, and more informally, Dame Shirley Bassey!

For the past 18 years, Jeffrey has held a post as vocal coach at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and at Welsh National Opera and Welsh National Youth Opera.

For those wishing to join the choir there will be rehearsal before the performance during the day. There will be a charge of £10 for those taking part and in addition a refundable deposit for copies of the music/text.